Flavors & Favors of Love
by bloodwrittenglory
Summary: Erina is known to have the most delicate of tongues, even among her kin of mermaids who are known for having the most delicate of senses. She is often admired and envied for her unrivaled beauty, but most are also afraid to approach her as no one had ever been able to please her. Can Soma bring pleasure to her senses and cook his way into Erina's heart?
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi FanFiction community! It's my first fanfiction uploaded for Shokugeki no Soma. I am a big fan of the Soma-Erina pairing and I really hope that they can get together soon, both in the anime and manga versions. So while I'm waiting... I decided to start this story. Hope you like it! I would appreciate your feedback.**_

 _ **P.S. There seems to be a problem when I try to upload images on the site, so I apologize I don't have a cover image for the story yet.**_

 _ **Thank you, and enjoy! This one's a bit short, so I'll try to upload another chapter soon!**_

* * *

Soma's golden eyes were staring off into the distance when Takumi Aldini suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision and suddenly clapped his hand once in front of Soma's face.

"What are you so deeply thinking about? Did you hear what we said?"

Isami Aldini, Ryo Kurokiba, and Akira Hayama were each sitting on top of their desks and looking at him and Takumi. Kurokiba and Hayama only looked bored and seemed as if they couldn't care less about what Souma was thinking about. Isami wore his usual earnest look.

"Ha! I was out of it for a moment there." Soma replied as he raised his hand to scratch the back of his head and smiled widely.

"It looked more than a moment to me," was Ryo's muttered remark.

"What were you guys talking about anyway?"

"There is an upcoming Shokugeki on the shore next week. Every student in Totsuki is invited to participate. There is no set theme. Each student has to present a dish and get a positive mark from all three judges to pass. If a student chooses to participate and passes, he/she will be exempted from the Spring Eliminations next year. Failure, of course, will result in expulsion," Hayama explained.

"We have been going to Shokugekis several times a week for the last few weeks. So what is so special about this one?" Soma asked.

"Well, for one, it will be a good opportunity to practice our skills. Also, we can take time off in the spring to go on vacation and cook on our own time, instead of slaving ourselves to drooling judges and professors," Takumi offered.

"You forgot to mention the important part," Isami remarked.

Soma had a puzzled expression and looked between his friends.

Hayama spoke first, "One of the judges is a mermaid."

Then Ryo added, "And not just any mermaid. It's Nakiri Erina."

* * *

Erina lounged on the rock and absent-mindedly watched her tail flap back and forth against the rock as the wind played with her long orange hair.

Eventually, she slowly slid into the water and floated on her back, her eyes closed and her hair spread out on the water's surface. She liked the feel of the sun beating down on her body while the cool water tickled her bare back.

She fell asleep and didn't realize she did so until her serenity was broken by the less than peaceful waves lapping on her face and belly. She opened her eyes and realized that her peace was broken by an approaching figure. A human.

"Are you Nakiri Erina?" A male voice asked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those who took the time to read the first chapter. I didn't want to keep you waiting, so here it is. I will try to update ASAP.**

 **Please let me know what you think!**

* * *

"And not just any mermaid. It's Nakiri Erina."

Everyone was looking at Soma, but Kurokiba's statement did not produce the expected reaction. Soma tilted his head slightly and blinked wondering what was so special about this Nakiri Erina. Sure, he had heard of mermaids and their especially delicate senses and it probably would be quite interesting to have his cooking judged by a mermaid, but it wasn't really that big of a deal.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of Nakiri Erina?" Takumi directed the question to Soma.

"No clue."

"Where have you been living? Under a rock?" Hayama piped in sarcastically.

"Should I have heard of her?" Soma paused for a moment, trying to rack his brains, but the name really did not ring any bells. Then he added, "Nope, I really have no idea who she is."

Hayama, Takumi, Kurokiba, and Isami looked at each other and then all shook their heads, once again resigned to Soma's ignorance of some important things.

Takumi started to explain, "Nakiri Erina is a legend among all the mermaids. She is known to have the most delicate tongue – to this day, no human had been able to serve anything to her that she deemed absolutely delicious… although there were some that got 'satisfactory' marks. In every event where she is chosen to judge, student participation is very low because usually, only 10% of the original participants pass."

"Are you saying you're backing out because of this Nakiri girl or whatever she is? Huh, Takumi?"

Takumi quickly turned red, "Of course not! No one said anything about backing out."

"All I can say is it's going to be very interesting. I can't wait to bring her to her knees with my spices. Although technically that's not possible, with her being a mermaid and all."

Then everyone laughed and no one noticed that Soma had already gone out the door and left.

Soma did not stop running until he got to the Mermaid's Cove. He approached the nearest one, who was sitting on the sand busily braiding her blue hair.

"Hello there."

When the mermaid looked up, he noticed that she had big eyes, golden like his.

"Oh, hi." She shyly looked down again.

"Do you know a Nakiri Erina?"

She blinked a few times and looked at him curiously.

"Yes. Of course."

"Do you know where I can find her?"

She turned her body to face the shore and pointed at the other end of the beach towards the north. The northern shore was noticeably empty.

"You can't see her from here… but… that's where she usually goes."

"Thank you for your help." He took several steps way already before he turned back and asked, "By the way, what's your name?"

"Umm... Tadokoro Megumi."

"I'm Yukihira Soma. Nice to meet you, Megumi-chan." He gave her a big smile before he left and headed to the northern shore.

He couldn't find her at first but when he got nearer to the water, he watched her flame-colored hair as it moved with the water's surface.

She seemed to be asleep, and a part of him did not want to disturb her calm state. But he continued to walk towards where her body was floating and without realizing it, his steps made quite an uproar in the waves.

Her body moved slightly so he asked, "Are you Nakiri Erina?"

* * *

"What an impudent human being!" Erina thought.

She didn't answer him, closed her eyes again, and instead asked, "And what is a human like you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Nakiri Erina."

Her curiosity got the best of her so she raised her upper body and changed to a sitting position and laid eyes on the red-haired, golden-eyed boy who just stood there and waited.

"And what could be of such importance that you come running here and disturb a sleeping mermaid?"

"Is it true that you are judging the Totsuki Shokugeki next week?"

It was true. Her grandfather had recommended her to judge the upcoming Shokugeki. However, she was about to talk to the Judging Committee about it this afternoon to refuse. It was such a tedious task - human cooking is just not worth her time and palate.

He spoke first, "Well, if it's true, I'm just here to tell you that I will serve you the most delicious food you've ever had, and you will have no choice but to say, 'Delicious!' or you'll just be speechless."

"How presumptuous!" She blurted out.

He only laughed.

Her cheeks were now flushed with anger. But she forced herself to sound composed, "Words, words, words. Proofs are what counts, human."

He laughed again, and she was infuriated. She decided that she would accept the judging position if only to watch this impudent and presumptuous human squirm and to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face when she declared his food "Undeserving."

They were in a staring contest for several seconds before he said, "And by the way, we humans have a name. Yukihira Soma. That's mine."

She broke off the eye contact first, crossed her arms, and snobbily moved her head to the side and her nose up in the air.

Although she thought that he was not worth any more words from her, she was about to make another remark, but before she could, he said, "See you next week, Nakiri," and just left.


	3. Chapter 3

When she sat up, Soma could not help but stare. She was undeniably beautiful, not to mention that her wet orange hair could barely cover her ample breasts and from the way that she stuck her chest out, she didn't seem to care. And the fierce look in her violet eyes only added to the attraction.

He kept his eyes glued on her, and at the same time tried his best not to appear to be staring anywhere else but her eyes. He took a deep breath and started talking. He wanted to know whether she really would be a judge in the Shokugeki next week.

She appeared to contemplate his question, but he decided that he could not stay any longer if he'd like to keep his mind, and not the wrong head, working, so he just added, in his usual confident tone,

"Well, if it's true, I'm just here to tell you that I will serve you the most delicious food you've ever had, and you will have no choice but to say, 'Delicious!' or you'll just be speechless."

At that, she was obviously inflamed, that her face was almost as bright scarlet as her hair.

She resumed her calm a few minutes later and delivered the challenge.

"Words, words, words. Proofs are what counts, human."

Was she always this condescending? he thought.

He didn't mind being called "Human" because he was one, but he found it quite amusing to talk back, so he told her his name without being asked.

As expected, she broke off the eye contact and acted as if she couldn't care less about who he was. It was really amusing to him how she tried so hard to act unaffected.

Each moment that passed only seemed to make her more beautiful. She was cute, he admitted to himself.

He couldn't help but laugh and thought that he really must go.

"See you next week, Nakiri," he said and then walked away.

When Soma got back to his dorms, Takumi opened the door and asked him where he'd been.

"Oh, just around."

"Have you thought about your dish for next week?" Takumi asked.

"Eh? Not really."

He never really thought about it until Takumi asked. He decided he had plenty of time to think about it. Besides, he needed to take a cold shower for a certain orange-haired, violet-eyed mermaid is recalled back to mind.

After his shower, Soma felt the exhaustion and fell asleep. He woke up to the delicious aroma of, he guessed, Hayama's spices. He poked his head out the door and saw Hayama busily stirring the pot, a spoon midway to his mouth.

"Curry for dinner, huh?" He stepped out into the hall.

"Who said you can have any?" Hayama teased.

"Well, I surely won't be begging for it," Ryo suddenly said, joining them in the kitchen.

"Sure you won't regret those words later?" Hayama said, his eyebrows raised.

Several minutes later, Hayama brought the pot to the table, while Takumi arranged the plates and silverware.

No sooner than the pot touched the surface of the table, Soma scooped a spoonful of the steaming curry into his mouth, and said loudly with his mouth full, "Itadakimasu," or more like "Istakmmas"

They all laughed around the table and started devouring Hayama's curry.

After they finished eating, Isami volunteered to wash the dishes while everyone else stayed seated on the table, talking.

"Hey, Hayama. Are you going to be serving curry next week?" Soma asked.

"Originally, I was thinking about it. But while I was helping out Jun earlier, I discovered some new spices that I might want to try using for something else. I'm just not sure what yet."

"How about you, Takumi? Did you think about what you will make?"

"I decided on Beef Rigatoni." Then Soma said, "Just make sure you leave some for me!"

"Isami, what about you?" Takumi asked his brother.

"I don't think I will be participating. I have a few exams coming up that I have to prepare for. Sorry."

Takumi nodded, "I guess that leaves just us four."

"What do you mean?" asked Soma.

"The news had spread about Erina judging the Shokugeki, so everyone who was originally going to participate had some sense to back out the last minute," Hayama explained.

Soma then stood up from his seat, "I guess I better buy some ingredients so I can start testing out a few dishes. Anyone?"

"Let's go!" Takumi said, and all five, including Isami, headed out.

After several hours of walking and shopping around, the group of friends was finally satisfied with their purchases, their arms occupied with brown bags filled with various fresh ingredients and an assortment of spices.

When they got home, the bags were carried to the dinner table and some laid on the counter.

"I'd like to pick up some spices from the lab," Hayama called out from the door.

Isami rubbed his eyes and said, "I better catch some sleep for now. I'll see you guys later." He then walked down the hall to his room.

Meanwhile, Soma started cracking up some eggs into a large bowl and beating them. In a few seconds, he had diced tomatoes, onions, and garlic and set them aside. The oil on the pan started to heat up so he added in the diced ingredients, and when they were golden brown, he poured in the eggs. He flipped the eggs immediately to preserve some of the moisture, and the next moment he was scooping it into his plate.

Although it smelled great and tasted good, well, good was not good enough. Not as a Totsuki student, and especially not when you would be judged by a mermaid named Nakiri Erina. Not to mention that he'd already confidently promised to render her speechless. But it was too late to second guess himself. Besides, Soma had long learned to get rid of that bad habit.

For now, all he needed is more practice. And maybe some help from his friends.


End file.
